Vindication?

Had the Belgian sampled at the brewing meeting last night and the consensus is that it did have plenty of Belgian flavors. Perhaps it was entered in the wrong category, but hey, at least it tastes like it should.

Contest Blues

Well I went to contest to see with my own eyes how they work, especially since I am working logistics for our club contest. It was an interesting process, but I don't think I'll be wasting my time with entering beers in the future...Frankly I don't brew the kind of beer that wins contests, but I like to enter them to gain feedback from certified judges. Well this time I entered "The Belgian" to see how it stacked up, and here's the feedback I got:

"No Belgian flavors, not to style"

Well thanks for nothing! How about explaining to me how a beer brewed with belgian yeast has no belgian flavors? Usually I get so critical feedback that suggests possible solutions to the problem. Not this time, in fact all I got was the critical part.

I forgot to mention that the contest included a 45min ribbon ceremony that ended with 5 brewers taking 75-80% of the ribbons. Really was discouraging to see the slanted distribution. Well, I will participate in my club's contest, maybe even send a beer to contest again, but the desire to get more involved with the "contest brewing" community was sapped from my soul. And that's all I got to say about that.

Belgian Follow Up...

You might remember this post where I wasn't sure what to do with the heavy-hitting Belgian Dubble...

I named it post-humulously "Joel's Daddy" because my friend came over for the poker tourney and met a guy named Steve, and neither one of them have been able to find their pants. All this thanks to "The Belgian" being drank like kool-aid at a Branch Davidian compound. Thank goodess for my basement stairs, otherwise we would have had to listen to the same story, for the 3rd time, from the floor.

Sent some of it to the contest, we'll see if the Judges can find their pants after sampling.

Where the hell have I been?

All over...really. No, not really. Actually I've been at home mostly, getting a new business of it's feet. Don't worry, I still make time for brewing, just not so much in the way of this blog!

Updates:

- Switch died on the brewery pump, had to hotwire it, but I should have a new switch soon. I've brewed 3 times w/o it, so it's not impeding my progress, just rigged for the time being.

- Brewed cream ale, original recipe brown, and just today a Bass Ale clone which is in between an English Mild and English Pale. Also brewed a Belgian wit (Blue Moon Clone), or I should say Irish Jim did with me as his assistant. I personally don't care for the Blue Moon, or the style, but that's what makes the sis-in-law happy. And, it'l getcha drunk!

- Entered the Belgian Dubble and Bock in the US Open Brewing competition in Charlotte, NC this weekend, and will be travelling there to steward (read "sample great beers all day"). We'll see if I can break the 40pt barrier!

- Jalapeno beer was a hit at the Cino de Mayo party last weekend. It has the aroma of a fresh pepper, but the smooth, clean flavor of a golden ale. This was my idea, but Drank Tank's pet project. He used Tequila instead of vodka for the peppers, but it still turned out great.

- Started my own business, Tumblin Construction. If you know anyone in the greater Triad NC area that needs a deck, fence, shed, or whatever else, contact me here.

I'll try to keep in touch more often, and maybe I'll win a ribbon this weekend!

Fly Sparging 101

One of the members of my brewing club was wondering about videos to show how to perform certain duties during brewing...here is the first one I happened to make showing the "field expedient" method for fly-sparing a 5-gallon all-grain batch:

Negligence

Wow, just Wow...

I've been so busy over the past few weeks I didn't even take the time to post on my blog. Lets catch up. First off, my great dane of 9 1/2 years passed away a few weeks ago. It's been tough for my wife and I since he was our first pet together, and my first pet EVER. Not to mention he was a big dang dog, and had a personality to match his size. Gosh I miss Spartacus, but he had lived long past his prime and died happy, at home, and in his sleep.

On to brewing...things are going strong at the RCBC. Last weekend I successfully brewed 30 gallons (3 batches) of homebrew: cream ale, acorn amber (o-fest), and a toasted acorn, which I modified the original recipe, adding 2lbs of "toasted" pale malt. We will see how it tastes relative to the original that I love so much.

This Friday is the RCBC-sponsored Spartacus Tumblin Memorial Hold'em Invitational. I have an Engish pub ale (boddy-style) served on the nitro tap and what's left of a Barely Drinkable Brown Ale for those that are feeling frisky.

Lastly, I entered a few beers in a contest and got some good results. I didn't place, but my average score was 30 out of 50. I was happy, especially considering I knew they were not my best brews!

Bottled Belgian

Bottled up 1/2 of my belgian dubble. Not sure what to do with the rest. I filled about 14 1liter bottles. Now I have a 5gal keg of 8.5% beer. Now that spells certain disaster should it fall into the wrong hands! I was thinking about serving it at my poker game in a few weeks, that ought to ensure that a few folks will not have their "A" game ready!

Beer Brewing Blues

Right now I have only one good beer on tap, vienna. Otherwise I have a couple kegs of "different" brew. Today I'm going to bottle up a few beers for contest. I have some Scottish, Strawberry ale, and Vienna that will make it's way to the Shamrock Open in RDU. Otherwise I was sincerely dissapointed with my new attempt at brown ale...

So back to the basics. Tomorrow I am assisting a friend brew up a batch of Vienna for his wedding. From there we will start the great Maerzen brewfest. I'm going to attempt to brew 3 o-fest's starting with my standard one. These batches will lager until September, where I will probably crack a keg on my birthday (9/5). Talk about taking the style seriously!

I also plan on another brown ale (back to the original recipe), an american amber, CAP, and a german pilsner.

Shout Out

Occasionally we rookie homebrewers hit one out of the park. Last night I had a pint of Drank Tank's American Pale Ale. Now, I am known in our brewing circle as the "anti-hop", so any pale ale is a sketchy proposition...but not this one.

I dare you to have one pint. It's impossible. Usually IPAs and APAs are unbalanced (too much hops, not enough ABV and maltiness), but this one was spot on. Perfectly, and I mean PERFECTLY balanced. I think he would agree that the balance was luck, being that it was his first attempt at the recipe, but damn what a fine beer. I haven't been brewing much good beer thanks to experimentation and brewery changes, so it was nice to have a delicious brew from a fellow homebrewer's hand.

Thank you, Drank Tank. Let me bestow the highest honor I have, a haiku:

Thoughts on an APA

First apprehensive
Malt, hops balance perfectly
One is not enough

Copyright Infringement?

I am travelling to Washington DC on Thursday and will be indulging in a few brews at the Sweetwater Tavern. Browsing the beer list I found that they have taken one from my book!

Sweetwater Tavern's Rusty Roadrunner Lager

They don't have it on tap, but I am hoping to score some from the brewmaster if there is any available (and he is willing to part with it). Perhaps he will be happy to entertain a poor homebrewer's request? Either way, I will blog about the experience next week!

Brewing Updates

Irish Jim brewed on his "own" Sunday. I am so proud...he's all grows up! Well, sort-of. We brewed the Cockhammer Ale for his St. Patty's day romp in Pittsburg. Too bad they won't care what it tastes like 30mins after they start drinking...

As for my current brews, the Belgian finished fermenting and tasting revealed one hell of a "belgian" flavor. Still a lot of phenols (thanks to 8.5% ABV) and a warming alcohol finish. This one will need some bottle conditioning to smooth out. I might try a bottle around memorial day!

Some new links...

As I've searched the interweb I found a few sites worthy of recognition, (and by "found" I mean Drank Tank sent me one). And then I got published:

http://www.beerhaikudaily.com/2007/02/19/winter-warming/

And from there I stumbled upon this, which looks fun:

http://appellationbeer.com/blog/time-for-a-beer-blogging-day/

So there you have it. Not related to brewing, perse', but a good trip into the beer blogging world...

Bock update...

Actually, Drank Tank and I dubbed this brew "Bock Twenty-Five" since it isn't quite a double, but is more than just a bock...

Transferred to secondary last night. Already tasting smooth with a hint of bitterness. Very malty and just a hint of phenols (alcohol taste). Gravity at 1.014, and that's where it will certainly stay. The yeast I've used for the vienna and this bock is outstanding. It's a "special" strain that White Labs release in the winter. Platinum Series Bavarian Lager yeast. It ferments great at 52 and is healthy with vigorous fermentation. I collected at least 1/2 a pint of it from the fermentor for use on my O'fest in March!

Old School

On the coldest day we've had in a while I am thinking back to the summer heat, and version 1.0 of the RCBC...

Flurry of Activity

With the RCBC first ever Winter Brewfest coming up next weekend I've been a busy brewmeister! Also had my friend visit from California and he wanted to see the brewery in action, so I brewed up a belgian dubble (Ommegang-ish). I also kegged up my El Camino Vienna, Forty-Weight Brown, and bottled the vanilla variety of Danielle's Birthday Strawberry Ale.

Shew! The TBC Bock is in diacetyl rest, and I will keg the rest of the Strawberry later this week, just in time for the BrewFest...

Despair

Sadness is pouring your last pint of a good Oktoberfest. Despair is spilling it on the floor.

Double Bock (or not)

Drank Tank and I brewed a Dopple(double) Bock Sunday but it didn't quite come out that way...we were shooting for an OG of 1.077 but only made it to 1.060. So we ended up with what is barely a bock. No worries. DT wanted to use the 13gal fermentor he brought back from Tennessee, so that's what we did. It is fermenting away at 52F...

Beer Brewing in Space.

You can't make this up, beer brewing in the absence of gravity. If that was an elective in college it wouldn't have taken me 11 years to graduate!

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast21sep%5F1.htm

Tax dollars well spent, IMHO.

Coors Light

A little on the crass side, but I ran across this quote today regarding Coors Light:

"If you gave me a car made of diamonds and BJ's all day I still wouldn't drink that beer."

Drinking the beer...

Usually I am focused on brewing, but today I decided to review DRINKING beer. Had a few folks over for the games yesterday and we drank a few brews. I had some leftover brown ale, scottish, and O'fest on tap, and we partook.

Brown Ale was a bit more bitter than normal thanks to a tiny bit of trub (the "goo" that ends up on the bottom of the fermenters and includes pieces of hop) into the serving keg.

Scottish Ale is still strong with smoke flavor, but tasty (IMHO). I will probably bottle the rest of it since noone else seems to care for it. Maybe a few months of conitioning will smooth it out.

O'fest is delish, even with only a month of lagering. I might bottle some of it for contest in March, otherwise it will be enjoyed until the brown is ready again...

Too many good beers to drink!